Former FBI Director James Comey posted a photo on Instagram of a “cool” seashell formation he found while on a walk. The formation depicts “86 47.” (See image below):
The Merriam Webster Dictionary defines 86 as “to eject, dismiss, or remove (someone).” Commentators are considering the 47 formation to be a direct reference to Donald Trump, the 47th President of the United States. It was deleted by Comey shortly thereafter.
President Trump commented on Comey’s post, which he considered a direct threat to himself.
“He knew exactly what that meant,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier. “A child knows what that meant. If you’re the FBI director and you don’t know … that meant ‘assassination. And it says it loud and clear.”
“Our country’s become respected again, and all this, and he’s calling for the assassination of the president,” Trump continued.
The Secret Service and Department of Homeland Security are investigating Comey’s post.
“We vigorously investigate anything that can be taken as a potential threat against our protectees,” Secret Service Spokesman Anthony Gugliemi wrote on X. “We are aware of the social media posts by the former FBI Director & we take rhetoric like this very seriously. Beyond that, we do not comment on protective intelligence matters.”
Upon deleting the post and realizing the backlash it prompted, Comey wrote a follow-up post on Instagram claiming the post was innocent:
“I didn’t realize some folks associate those numbers with violence. It never occurred to me but I oppose violence of any kind so I took the post down.”
